Yahoo Finance Elon Musk asks space-themed video game for ideas to get humans living on Mars
Elon Musk has asked a video game for help getting humans to Mars and “making life multiplanetary”.
He suggested that the developers of Kerbal Space Program, a game that allows people to design and fly spacecraft around a virtual solar system, might have ideas for what SpaceX is “doing wrong”.
Mr Musk noted that the biggest problem the company faces in its plans to colonise Mars and other planets is the vast cost of getting spacecraft to its surface.
And he asked for any help that its community could give to get people there.
The tweets came as part of a busy morning of tweeting for Mr Musk, in which he also made a number of jokes about dogecoin – and helped boost the cryptocurrency’s price.
What are we doing wrong at SpaceX? You probably have some good ideas.
The fundamental optimization for making life multiplanetary & backing up the biosphere is cost per ton to the surface of Mars.
What system achieves that best?— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 1, 2021
At the time of publication, those behind the Kerbal Space Program account – run by publisher Private Division – had not responded to Mr Musk’s request.
The SpaceX and Tesla boss has been showing his appreciation for Kerbal Space Program for years. In a Reddit ask me anything session in 2015, he said the game was “awesome”.
KSP has also acknowledged the relationship in the past – and even asked for similar help. In 2019, when Mr Musk voiced his excitement about the upcoming sequel, the game’s developers noted that it would be helpful if SpaceX could provide some real-life examples of technologies that will be included in the game.
Well...@elonmusk, we could use some reference material for methalox exhaust in a vacuum, so if @spacex could go ahead and do that before we ship #KSP2, that'd be super helpful!🚀 https://t.co/0pXgN3CSW0
— Kerbal Space Program (@KerbalSpaceP) October 15, 2019
Mr Musk has repeatedly said that the aim of SpaceX is to make life multiplanetary, and establish habitats on the Moon. It has been doing a range of work in service of that aim, which includes building bigger and more efficient rockets.
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